Monmer Bridge to Clarke's Lane
Bentley Canal
December 2009
Monmer Bridge to Clarke's Lane is one of the most frustrating stretches of the old Bentley Canal, with it's line fairly apparent but mainly built over and almost totally inaccessible for about three quarters of a mile.
Remains of Spring Bank Bridge
It started off well enough from Fibbersley, but with no formal access point at Monmer, the climb onto the embankment which replaced the bridge involves an ascent up a 45 degree slope and then a squeeze through an impossibly narrow gap. If that wasnt bad enough, the very boggy treck along the open strip of grass to reach Monmer was punctuated by an assortment of very angry dogs hurling themselves against the back fences of the adjoining properties. Thankfully, the planking held and we escaped, leaving a chorus of canine howls and snarls behind us.
Monmer Bridge (site of)
The curving line east from Monmer is very clear but is now given over to lorry storage, with the canal heading for the chimney in the distance. Progress along the line becomes impossible at this point and a diversion through the Ashmore Lake Industrial Park is called for. With a bit of searching you can recross the line of the canal at Spring Bank Bridge, which carries Sharesacre St, or what remains of it.
Views between Monmer Bridge and Spring Bank Bridge
Spring Bank Bridge remains intact, but completely buried and securing a photo of the parapet involved sinking waist deep into rubbish to the west. The view east over a large area of concrete hardstanding includes an old pipe bridge to the right of the line, spanning an infilled side arm now covered with a car repair works.
East from Spring Bank Bridge - two locks between here and the grey factory in the distance
The rest of the line to Sandbeds Bridge, which carried Charles Street, is completely obliterated and built over. No amount of poking and prying in the area offered any more glimpses of canal track, which is a shame as there used to be two locks in this length.
Beyond Charles Street the line of the canal pushes on into yet another closed works site, this time securely locked and resistant to light trespass. Another diversion to the north and then the line can be found emerging as a stretch of open grass, which includes the site of the bottom Sandbeds Lock, before climbing over yet another embankment built to replace Clarke's Lane Bridge.
West from Clarke's Lane
Whilst this is not the most spectacular stretch of canal to follow, a number of the old industrial sites which line the canal will have been there in it's heyday, and therefore what one loses on the route one gains in atmosphere.
Here is a fascinating insight posted on facebook about this bit of canal by Roger Wilcox
ReplyDeleteAndy ... very informative. What is missing in your commentary is an explanation as to why the line of the canal has not been built on and largely has little vegetation. This is due to the fact that the whole length of the canal has been culverted.
Rather than having been filled in with rubbish as you suggest, the canal is now an underground waterway running through a 2m square concrete culvert.
In 1975, the culverted canal featured in the police hunt for Lesley Whittle who had been kidnapped from Highley in Shropshire. The perpetrator was nicknamed the Black Panther . His real name was Donald Neilson.
He had left a message in a telephone kiosk situated in Cumberland Road. This was very close to the line of the canal. He was already thought to be involved in civil construction work, so two police officers, myself and a colleague, were tasked with searching the length of the culvert. We were both armed with revolvers. We didn't find Nielsen nor was there any evidence of him being down there.
As we walked the culvert in a westerly direction, the bore of the culvert became smaller till the point where we could no longer walk it. We came up to the surface in Waddensbrook Lane.
Lesley Whittle's body was later found in a canal tunnel ventilation shaft in north Staffordshire. This suggests strongly that Neilson was involved in the work to culvert the Bentley canal.